Of Course
by Sad Little Smile
Summary: Long oneshot, slightly A/H. After TLC, but before TTP; Holly meets Artemis at Fowl Manor...but is it even Artemis? Rated Teen for slight violence.


**Disclaimer:I don't own Artemis, Holly, Butler, or anyone else...they all belong to Eoin Colfer.**

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"Artemis?" Holly called, through the dust coating the manor that silenced every footstep. It had been allowed to collect cobwebs, as if no one had lived there for years and years.

"Where are you?" she called again, flicking a light in her hand to 'On', and sweeping the room with the wide beam. A pale, wraithlike shape descending the stairs came into view, and she sighed inwardly.

"Hello, Holly." His ice-smooth voice cut through the dust and over to her, echoing down the hall behind her. A ghostly chuckle followed.

It was not at all friendly.

For the first time, Holly hesitated. "Artemis? What's happened?" she backed away from him a couple steps and tripped slightly on a beam lying on the floor. It shifted, and sent up a cloud of ancient dust motes.

"Nothing has happened, Holly." Another chuckle, and he kept advancing.

She could feel the wall behind her now, and spread her fingers along it, feeling the rough smoothness of the old wood, and the intricate carvings. She spared a glance, and saw that a scene was portreyed.

In the scene, a young man was seen, looking away, and with sword in hand and raised, standing over a female with snakes writhing around her head.

Perseus and Medusa.

She jerked her eyes away from the scene, and back to Artemis. He was closer, and still advancing.

"Something is different about you." she whispered, and pressed her back into the grooves behind her.

In a flash, it happened. Metal flashed, and Holly looked down in surprise, at the length of icy sword going through her middle.

"That...hurt..." she coughed, and blood came up, spilling from her lips like a crimson river. She tried to concentrate on the magic, but it slipped away from her grasp, like a wet eel. The flashlight clattered out of her hand, and rolled to the edge of the room, where it illuminated Artemis.

_Not again._

"Why?" she managed to say, but was interrupted by another cough, which drew a sound of pain from her.

"I have changed, Holly. Artemis says hello." And as the mask fell away from his face, the boy became a man...or not? The features changed even more, to become the twisted features of a female Holly knew well.

"No..."she whispered, her collapsed lung making it difficult to breathe.

"Oh, yes, my dear Captain. I hope you enjoy death; then again, considering you've been there once already, I suppose you won't."

Opal checked the wicked sword, making sure it was firmly embedded in the wood behind Holly before she let go. Now Holly was pinned to the wood, unable to relax, unable to slump to the floor, and unable to stop the pain.

The pixie walked away, chuckling the same freezing, hateful laugh.

Then, at the door, she slumped to the floor, dead. Holly could see no outward sign of a bullet wound, or any other wound, but her blurry vision wasn't the best, so she could have been mistaken.

"Oh, Holly..." a soft sigh of breath, then cool fingers on her wrist.

"She's still with us. Her lung's gone, though...too much blood loss...broken...gone..." the words started fading, and Holly struggled to open her eyes, and saw Artemis and Butler hovering over her.

Holly mustered enough strength to give Artemis a weak punch on the arm. "Where were you...Mud Boy? Said...you'd be here."

"I told you I'd be late."

"Hurts..."

"I know. Can you heal yourself?"

"Maybe...don't know." her eyes started shutting again, she she didn't know that she would be able to open them again.

"Try, then." He urged her, not looking at the blood dying her, the wall behind her, and the floor, crimson.

Her eyes fluttered weakly, she desparately searched for the magic inside of her. Finding a trailing tendril of her power, she tugged, choking out, "Heal."

For a brief moment, blue sparks, floated over her body, and the bleeding stopped, but that was all she could manage.

"I'll have to pull it out." Artemis muttered to Butler, not allowing the emotion welling up within to show on his face. "You go take care of our old nemesis Opal there, and I'll see to Holly." not waiting for the body guard to protest, Artemis turned back to Holly, who was sinking swiftly into unconsciousness.

"This is going to hurt more." he whispered to her, then settled his hands around the sword, steeling himself to pull it out. It was lodged fairly firmly in the wood, but a wimpy pixie had thrust the sword, and though she had been charging, Artemis was stronger than that.

"Oh...kay!"

Artemis counted to three mentally, then jerked. The sword came loose, and out of Holly almost beautifully, though there was nothing beautiful about the blood gushing out of her now. Holly slid to the floor, almost in relief, and tried for the magic one more time. She found one last reserve, and pulled, hard, on it, to release a flood of sparks, all targeting the gaping hole in her torso.

"Thanks..." she murmered, before letting her body relax, the pain dulling to a small ache where her magic hadn't been enough. She peeled open her eyes more easily this time, and gave him a small smile.

Was it her imagination, or did he just wink?

"Of course."

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**I got the idea for this from a dream...I know, it's pretty cliche, but I had to write it. Not as glorious as some of the fics out there, but it wouldn't leave me alone. But yeah...hope you enjoy. R&R, please, and constructive criticism is always welcome, as well as comments.**


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